Sudan forces kill at least one protester, says doctors’ group. A medical organization said that on Tuesday, as Sudanese security forces forcibly dispersed anti-coup protestors in the capital city of Khartoum and other cities, at least one person was killed.
The pro-democracy group Sudan Doctors Committee claimed that the protester was killed when security forces in Omdurman, Khartoum’s sister city, opened fire on protesters.
It said that the death pushed the total number of protester fatalities—mostly young people—to at least 118 since the military’s widely denounced coup on October 25 that worsened the country’s unrest.
Sudan forces kill at least one protester, says doctors’ group. Since the coup, there have been practically weekly public protests that have resulted in thousands of injuries, according to the medical organization that keeps count of protester casualties.
After a popular uprising pushed the military to overthrow longstanding tyrant Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist-aligned administration in April 2019, the coup interrupted the nation’s fleeting transition to democracy.
Tuesday’s demonstrations were called for by the main pro-democracy movement, known as the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, to condemn the coup and days-long tribal fighting in the southern Blue Nile region that claimed at least 105 lives earlier this month.
According to the group, guys dressed casually and carrying firearms and knives attacked a protest march in Khartoum. It stated that this attack was the work of security services and followers of al-Bashir. It did not provide any supporting documentation for its assertions, and the police did not respond right away.
The country’s top military officer, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, declared less than three weeks ago that he and other commanding officers would not participate in UN-facilitated talks with the pro-democracy movement and that the military would return to the barracks once political forces had decided on a transitional government. Tuesday’s protests followed this declaration.
Last Monday, the feared Rapid Support Forces commander General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo backed Burhan’s declaration of the Fourth of July. Rights and protest organizations have accused the RSF, which evolved from the notorious Janjaweed militias, of being complicit in crimes against protesters during the past three years.
Burhan’s declaration was condemned by the pro-democracy movement as a tactical ploy designed to further splinter the already disjointed pro-democracy factions. It demanded that the general resign so that pro-democracy organizations could establish a civilian government and reorganize the armed forces.
